ISLAMABAD:

As the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) presents its transformation plan as a success story during annual meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, the present tax-to-GDP ratio of 10.33% is still far away from the threshold of 15% — the fiscal tipping point for sustained economic growth and poverty reduction as per global standards.

In fact, we can't solve the low revenue problem unless we tackle the low domestic savings rate. Pakistan has a savings rate of just 7.4% of GDP — compared to 27% in Saarc (the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and 41% in Asean (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

Moreover, from an economic productivity point of view, even those private savings end up in unproductive or dead investments such as uncons

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